Letters for Them is an open invitation for all adoptees to write and submit letters to birth parent(s), natural parent(s), birth/natural families, [preferred term]. The idea is that this be a pseudo-location to send these otherwise unsendable letters. No matter how old you are or where you were adopted, whether you know your birthparents or not, if you are an adoptee, you are invited to participate. This is meant to be a public, open space for adoptees to write to their birthfathers and/or birthmothers. The letters can be as creative as you wish; they may be simply typed or handwritten notes or they may be collages, drawings, etc. Another way to think about this: given the chance to say anything to your birthparents, what would you really want to say? What would you want them to know about?

It all began when I found some old drawings I had made as a kid (maybe six or seven years old). They were letters that I had written to my birthparents when I was first beginning to understand where I came from. They were never sent as neither I nor my mom know my birthparents nor had any way of contacting/finding them. We went back to China between my senior year of high school and my first year at RISD. While there, we were able to visit my orphanage, which has since changed quite a lot. We saw my file, which like we had expected, offered no new information as to who these unknown people were/are. Since then I continue thinking about what I'd want to say to them if I ever did have the chance to meet them. Letters for Them came as an idea that perhaps other adoptees think about this as well. Wouldn't it be cool if we all had a common place to send these technically un-sendable letters? Thus, Letter for Them was born.

Letters can be emailed, but preferred to be sent to:Robin Hilkey115 5th Avenue, 6th Floor PurposeNew York, New York, 10003

More specific instructions/guidance for submitting letters may be found on the Send a Letter page.

Feel free to contact me with any comments or questions, and feel free to share this project with any other adoptees/adoptee communities.